Android netbook port leaves some pondering Google OS

Will Google aim its OS sights at the PC market? A recent port of Android to a …

Last week, Matthäus Krzykowski and Daniel Hartmann of VentureBeat loaded Android onto an Eee PC 10000H netbook. According to their write-up, it took no more than about four hours to compile Android for the Eee and get it up and running. This wasn't just a proof of concept install. Once running, Android was able to use the onboard graphics, sound, and wireless capabilities of the device. This installation success is helping fuel speculation about the future of Android and other possible Google operating system initiatives.

While you might think of Android as a phone-based operating system, in reality it is more than that. Android can theoretically run on many PCs, including laptops and netbooks. The VentureBeat install, like the Nokia N810 we wrote about in early December, shows that Android and Android-like operating systems could have a potential range far wider than handheld devices.

That's not to say that you can just swap out Android for any Linux install. Android is built on a Linux kernel but diverges in the way that it handles graphics. Instead of using the standard Linux X Server drivers, Android employs a "framebuffer driver." This alternate technology arbitrates and controls access to the system display using the open source Skia Graphics Library. Skia is also the cross-platform graphics engine that powers Google Chrome.

Standard Linux applications depend on X Server and must be ported to Android's graphics system if they are to run properly there. As VentureBeat points out, the framebuffer driver approach currently runs far slower than X Server. Should Android attempt to make a push into the netbook market, it will have to improve its efficiency on that front or face "very slow graphics."

In most other regards, Android and standard Linux installs aren't that different. Most Linux drivers work under Android, so porting to new Linux-friendly platforms like netbooks involves minimal work. The VentureBeat developers were impressed by how simple it was to move Android to the Eee, writing that they found the underlying source code very neatly written and easy to port. Android itself made very few assumptions about the platform it was running on, so it automatically updated its screen display to fit the Asus screen (which is approximately five times the size of a G1 phone screen) without special programming.

With the Eee port done, speculation is running rampant as to whether Google has a larger OS distribution plan in mind. Tech Republic suggests that Chrome, Android and Google Desktop are leading to a full Google OS push. ZDNet's Garett Rogers writes that Google could monetize Android application sales for traditional PCs to create a new and profitable revenue stream.

From an end-user's point of view, this could be a huge, liberating win. An open source operating system with Google and its allies behind it could drive down the price of personal computers while at the same time opening that operating system up for open third-party innovation.

Is Google gunning for the netbook market? Given how flexibly Android has been developed and how well it adapts to new platforms without needing specific adjustments, Google would be foolish to not at least consider this avenue as an active development path. Google has the strength, the influence, and now it seems the technology, to take Linux-based netbooks and notebooks to a newer, more polished, and friendlier place, although some will disagree. With Android and its overall consumer ready interface, netbooks could appeal to a wider group of customers and to a possibly revenue-rich market.